Gaither in the middle of big Eagles question

BACK ON Aug. 2, Eagles middle linebacker Stewart Bradley tore his right ACL during the "Flight Night" practice at Lincoln Financial Field. So, how clear is the succession picture now, 4 weeks later?

Not very. Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott acknowledged yesterday that Omar Gaither, just back from missing a couple weeks with a knee injury, will get a look this week as the starter in the middle, 2 weeks before the start of the regular season. The Birds end their preseason Thursday against the Jets, with McDermott still evaluating what he has at middle linebacker, free safety and left defensive end.

After yesterday's practice, Gaither said he'd taken all the middle-linebacking snaps with the first-team defense. When reporters saw him working at the weakside, that was just a little scout-team stuff.

"It's everybody's job to lose, whoever has it," Gaither said as he jogged to the locker room, intent on being on time for a meeting. He'd been asked if the starting job was his to lose. "I don't know. I have to go out there and show 'em I can keep it, I guess."

Even before he tweaked his knee, Gaither seemed to be fading from the starting MIKE picture. The team's immediate response when Bradley went down was to put Joe Mays in the middle for first and second down, and replace him with Gaither in the nickel. Then the Eagles signed veteran linebacker Matt Wilhelm. Last week, seventh-round rookie Moise Fokou moved from strongside to the middle, and Fokou even got a little time with the first team in last Thursday's preseason win over Jacksonville.

"My biggest thing is that I want to see Omar come out and handle the reins of the defense in terms of the leadership - make the huddle call, get us lined up, quarterback the defense," McDermott said yesterday. "Then, from a health standpoint, that he has confidence in his leg."

A week earlier, when McDermott was asked about Gaither, he said: "Any time you miss time, it's hard to challenge for an opportunity there, but Omar is a good linebacker and will continue to add value."

McDermott did not say yesterday that Gaither had the job. He said Gaither was "a very aware and instinctive player." McDermott called the middle-linebacking position "a work in progress" that entails "an open competition, and it will remain that way."

"That's what we want on this team, on this defense," McDermott said. "You have to earn your job, and just because you have the job on Day 1 does not mean you'll have the job in Week 16. You have to earn that role and earn that job every week with your performance."

Clearly, Mays hasn't quite done that. Listed at 5-11, 246, he is a squat, muscular, downhill player who has struggled in pass coverage, and with any sort of play fake or misdirection. That last part stands to reason; Mays was active for just two games last year as a sixth-round rookie.

"We're looking for consistency out of whoever is in the middle in order to execute the defense," McDermott said when asked about Mays. "As a young player, Joe has a very bright future and he continues to develop. Consistency would be the biggest thing, every down."

Mays noted that Gaither has played 3 years for the Eagles. That would include most of the 2007 season as the starting middle linebacker.

"He knows the playbook in and out and he's more comfortable with the guys out there," Mays said. "He has the upper hand. At the same time, I have to keep on working, keep on preparing myself like I'm going to be the middle linebacker."

Mays said he thought he was "progressing, each and every game, that's what I've been hearing, that's what I thought myself . . . Just gotta keep on working hard . . . I can't sit back and feel bad and doubt myself, because that'll pretty much put me out of the race."

He said he has learned that "you have to play mistake-free football."

McDermott said the thinking behind bringing Fokou into the mix, so late in the preseason, was that the coaches are "looking for the best three linebackers."

Fokou had one really bad moment against Jacksonville, when he took an illegal-contact penalty, engaging with a receiver past the 5-yard limit. The Jags racked up a first down on third-and-19.

"Coming out of college, when the ball is not in the air, you can kind of jam the receivers up, up and down the field," he said. "I kind of put my hands up, he put his hands up. In the NFL, you've got to use your body to cover the area or cover the man. It was a rookie mistake . . . I wanted to stay aggressive. Sometimes they call it, sometimes they don't. They got me that time."

Fokou said the coaches simplified the scheme for him against Jacksonville since he was so new to the middle.

"It's a hard position to learn in just 1 week," he said.

"He's around the football during games," McDermott said of Fokou. "I think if you looked at linebackers over the years, you want those natural instincts. As you watch games, you see No. 53 around the football quite a bit."

McDermott lauded Fokou for being able to stay aggressive even after making a mistake.

The Eagles list Gaither at a truth-challenged 6-2, 235. He's a couple inches shorter than that, and perhaps a bit lighter. Fokou's 6-1, 233 listing seems fairly legit. None of the contenders can claim anything close to Bradley's archetypal, 6-4, 255-pound build.

If Gaither were a little bigger, he might have been able to hold onto the starting job in the middle after the 2007 season, or the weakside spot last year, instead of eventually giving way to Akeem Jordan. Gaither clearly thought he would go right back into the middle when Bradley went down, as the experienced, established alternative.

"You would think that I would be the guy to go in there right away, but Joe played well last year [in practice] and they felt like he could go in there and do some things," Gaither said. "You always have to earn stuff around here. It's been that way for me since I got here."

Gaither said he is "older, more mature" than he was when he first was given a crack at starting in the middle in just his second NFL season.

Someone asked Gaither if he was curious about how the competition would turn out.

"I already know how it's going to happen," he said. "You guys will have to wait and see, but I already know."

Has he told McDermott?

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.